Article Support Rack

ABSTRACT

An article support rack with accessorial article support racks directly assembled therewith includes a main article support rack, at least one conical lantern ring and at least one accessorial article support rack with split rings. Several flutes are defined in the support legs of the main article support rack. The conical lantern ring consists of two taper-collets and at least one protuberant rib is formed on an inner wall of the taper-collets so that the flutes engage with the ribs when two taper-collets are assembled to be a conical lantern ring around the support leg of the main article support rack, thereby achieving the function of stopping slip up and down. Since the accessorial article support rack can be assembled directly to the main article support rack without disassembling the main article support rack in advance, the extension function of the article support rack is greatly improved.

CROSS REFERENCE TO THE RELATED PATENT APPLICATION

This application claims the priority of the Chinese patent application No. 200620064775.6, filed on Sep. 25, 2006.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an article support rack, and more particularly to an article support rack with accessorial article support racks directly assembled therewith.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

As shown in FIG. 1, a traditional article support rack 9 has a shelf-board 91 and several support legs 92 joined to the shelf-board 91. Once the article support rack is made to be a finished product, the space on which for placing objects is changeless. So the article support rack can not meet the user's requirement of placing more objects on it. The user has to buy another article support rack for holding more objects. However, unfortunately, the economic burden of the user is increased.

Based on the above-mentioned problems, manufacturers begin to seek solutions of assembling accessorial article support racks with the conventional article support rack to meet the user's requirement of placing more objects. However, in the prior solutions, the main article support rack must be disassembled prior to assembling the accessorial article support racks therewith. That is, the shelf-board must be firstly disassembled from the support legs, and then assembles the accessorial article support racks, and finally assembles the shelf-board with the support legs again. The accessorial article support racks assembled in this way is evidently complex and time consuming. Furthermore, wear caused by the frequently disassembly of the shelf-board and the support legs of the article support rack results in a clearance between the shelf-board and the support legs bigger and bigger which, in turn, causes the article support rack unsteady and decreases the natural life of the article support rack.

Hence, a need has arisen for providing an improved article support rack to overcome the aforementioned problems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an article support rack with accessorial article support racks directly assembled therewith.

To achieve the above-mentioned object, an article support rack comprises: a main article support rack having a plurality of support legs, at least one conical lantern ring, and at least one accessorial article support rack. At least one flute is formed in the support leg. The inner diameter of the conical lantern ring is no smaller than the outer diameter of the support leg, and the outer diameter of the top portion of the conical lantern ring is smaller than that of the bottom portion of the conical lantern ring. At least one protuberant rib is formed on an inner wall of the conical lantern ring for engaging with the flute of the support leg. The accessorial article support rack has a split ring for engaging with an outer wall of the conical lantern ring so as to prevent the accessorial article support rack slipping up and down. The split ring has a split whose chord length is no smaller than the outer diameter of the support leg. Any inner diameter of the split ring at any height of the split spring being no smaller than the outer diameter of the top portion of the conical lantern ring, but at least one inner diameter of the split ring at a certain height of the split spring being smaller than the outer diameter of the bottom portion of the conical lantern ring.

In comparison with the traditional article support rack, the advantage of the present invention is that the accessorial article support rack can be assembled directly to the main article support rack without disassembling the main article support in advance, thereby improving the practicability of the article support rack.

The present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art by reading the following description of several particular embodiments thereof with reference to the attached drawings, in which:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an assembled perspective view of a traditional article support rack;

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of an article support rack in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 3 is an assembled perspective view of the article support rack shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a taper-collet for the article support rack;

FIG. 5 is a cross sectional view of the taper-collet;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing two taper-collets being about to be assembled with a support leg of the article support rack;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view illustrating the support leg and the two taper-collets after assembled and a split ring of an accessorial support rack to be assembled.

FIG. 8 is a cross sectional view of the support leg, the two taper-collets and the split ring in assembled state;

FIG. 9 is a top view of FIG. 8; and

FIG. 10 is a partial enlarged view of FIG. 8.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the article support rack 1 of the present invention includes a main article support rack 2, a plurality of conical lantern rings 3, and a plurality of accessorial article support racks 4, 5, 6. The main article support rack 2 has shelf-boards 21 and several support legs 22 joined to the shelf-boards 21. The support legs 22 provide flutes 24 therein (shown in FIG. 6). As shown in FIG. 9, the outer diameter D1 of the top portion of the conical lantern ring 3 is smaller than that D2 of the bottom portion of the conical lantern ring 3. The accessorial article support racks 4, 5, 6 each have a split ring 7 with a split 71.

As shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, the conical lantern ring 3 having a outer conical surface consists of two engaged taper-collets 32 (shown in FIGS. 6, and 7). Each of the taper-collets 32 is approximately cone-shaped, and its top portion is bigger than its bottom portion. One side of each of the taper-collets 32 has a notch 33 and the other side of each of the taper-collets 32 has an extension arm 34. When two taper-collets 32 buckle with each other, the notch 33 of one of the taper-collets 32 engages with the extension arm 34 of the other taper-collet 32 (shown in FIG. 7). A protuberant rib 35, which can be designed to be annular according to the present embodiment or point mode, is formed on the inner wall of the taper-collet 32. In the present embodiment, the flute 24 defined in the support legs 22 of the main article support rack 2 is annular too for engaging with the annular rib 35.

As shown in FIG. 9, the inner diameter d1 of the conical lantern ring 3 is no smaller than the outer diameter D3 of the support leg 22 of the main article support rack 2. The split ring 7 has a conical inner surface. The inner conical surface of the split ring 7 and the out conical surface of the conical lantern ring 3 have a same taper. The chord length L of the split 71 of the split ring 7 of the accessorial article support rack is no smaller than the outer diameter D1 of the top portion of the conical lantern ring 3. The inner diameter d2 of the split ring 7 is smaller than the outer diameter D2 of the bottom portion of the conical lantern ring 3.

Referring to FIG. 6 and FIG. 7, when assembling the article support rack, with two taper-collets 32 encircling the support leg 22 of the main article support 2 at a certain height position, firstly buckles the two taper-collets 32 with each other with the rib 35 of the conical lantern ring 3 engaged with the flute 24 of the support leg 22 so that the conical lantern ring 3 can not slip up and down along the support leg 22, thereby the taper-collets 32 are secured to the support leg 22.

Referring to FIG. 7, FIG. 8, and FIG. 9, after the conical lantern ring 3 is disposed on the support leg 22 of the main article support rack 2, the split ring 7 of the accessorial article support rack 4, 5, 6 is covered on the support leg 22 of the main article support rack 2 flatly above the conical lantern ring 3, and then be pressed onto the outer wall of the conical lantern ring 3. Since the inner diameter d2 of the split ring 7 is smaller than the outer diameter D2 of the bottom portion of the conical lantern ring 3, the accessorial article support rack can not slip down from the conical lantern ring 3, thereby fixing the accessorial article support rack on the main article support rack 2.

It should be noted that:

(1) As shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 6, the flute 24 is not limited to be defined in only one position of the support legs 22 of the main article support rack 2. Several flutes 24 can be provided at different positions in the support leg 22 from top to bottom depending on the user's requirement so as to assemble the accessorial article support rack at different positions.

(2) As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the accessorial article support racks may have some different types, such as net type article support rack 4, pothook type article support rack 5, and balustrade type article support rack 6 and so on. The aforementioned accessorial article support racks need not be assembled with the main article support rack simultaneously. That assembling any accessorial article support rack with the main article support rack also falls into embodiments of the present invention.

As indicated above, in comparison with the traditional article support rack, the advantage of the present invention is that the accessorial article support rack can be assembled to the main article support directly with disassembling the main article support rack in advance, so the assembly of the article support rack is fast and convenient, economic and practical. The extension function of the article support rack is also greatly improved. Moreover, the assembly of the accessorial article support rack does not affect the structure of the main article support rack so as not to reduce the natural life of the main article support rack.

Thus, the present invention provides, in various embodiments, an improved article support rack. The foregoing descriptions of specific embodiments have been presented for purposes of illustration and description. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed, and many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical application, and to enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention and various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. It is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the claims appended hereto and their equivalents. 

1. An article support rack, comprising: a main article support rack having a plurality of support legs, at least one flute being formed in the support leg; at least one conical lantern ring having a outer conical surface, the inner diameter of the conical lantern ring being no smaller than the outer diameter of the support leg, and the outer diameter of the top portion of the conical lantern ring is smaller than that of the bottom portion of the conical lantern ring, at least one protuberant rib being formed on an inner wall of the conical lantern ring for engaging with the flute of the support leg; and at least one accessorial article support rack having a split ring with a inner conical surface for engaging with an outer wall of the conical lantern ring, the split ring having a split whose chord length is no smaller than the outer diameter of the support leg, any inner diameter of the split ring at any height of the split spring being no smaller than the outer diameter of the top portion of the conical lantern ring, but at least one inner diameter of the split ring at a certain height of the split spring being smaller than the outer diameter of the bottom portion of the conical lantern ring; the inner conical surface of the split ring and the outer conical surface of the conical lantern ring have a same taper.
 2. The article support rack as claimed in claim 1, wherein the accessorial article support rack is selected from a group consisting of net type article support rack, pothook type article support rack, and balustrade type article support rack.
 3. The article support rack as claimed in claim 2, wherein the rib of the conical lantern ring is annular or point mode.
 4. The article support rack as claimed in claim 3, wherein the conical lantern ring consists of two engaged taper-collets, one side of each of the taper-collets has a notch and the other side of each of the taper-collets has an extension arm, the notch of one of the taper-collets engages with the extension arm of the other taper-collet.
 5. The article support rack as claimed in claim 1, wherein the flute of the support leg of the main article support rack is annular.
 6. The article support rack as claimed in claim 5, wherein the flute is defined in at least two positions of the support leg of the main article support rack.
 7. The article support rack as claimed in claim 6, wherein the flutes defined in the support leg of the main article support rack are parallel. 